If you live in or plan to live in the Tri-County area, including Livingston County, stop in and discuss your situation with us.

Metro Detroit usually is made up of the Tri-County area – Macomb, Wayne, and Oakland Counties. Livingston county is also sometimes referred to in the same area. These counties were hit the hardest during the Michigan housing crisis over the past few years. With the collapse of the auto industry, we saw home values plummet over 50% in many areas.

Fortunately, things have been improving for the Tri-County housing market. Home values have shown strong gains in recent months. Most recently in May 2013, we saw year-over-year gains as follows:

These gains in home values mean many things for people looking to buy a new home or refinance their existing home.

What Rising Home Values Mean To Home Buyers in the Tri-County Area

While home prices have been vaulting up at a record pace, the sale of new homes has not followed in such strong numbers. This is mainly due to the fact that there is a lack of inventory of homes for sale. There are more buyers on the market than there are homes for sale. So if you plan to purchase a new home in this area, be prepared for a lot of competition. A recent home that one of of Realtor partners put up for sale in Livonia saw over 100 people at the open house and 11 offers placed within the first 48 hours. Many of those offers were placed over asking price, and we even had 2 clients get engaged in a bidding war!

With the competition this fierce in the Tri-County area, you need to be well prepared for your home purchase. Get Pre-Approved with a mortgage lender early, and have open communication throughout the house hunting process. Monitor and fix your credit reports so you find yourself in the best standing possible as a qualified borrower. You also are highly advised to hire a professional realtor that you trust working with. They will be invaluable in helping you find a home and make a competitive offer that gets accepted. Plus, their compensation is 100% paid for by the seller!

Refinance Your Home – New Options available for Tri-County Residents

It still hurts to think about how many people were hurt by the housing crisis here in Michigan. Not only did a majority of Tri-County residents find themselves underwater on their home, many had to give it up either through short sale, foreclosure, or bankruptcy. Now that values are starting to heal and get healthy again, you may have more refinancing options available to you.

My home has equity again: Believe it or not more and more people are finding themselves in this category again. When is the last time you looked to see what your home may be worth? Did you know you could tap into your home’s equity and get a cash out refinance to pay for things like college tuition or home remodeling? We’ll help you estimate your home’s value and talk through the different situations you can go down to refinance your mortgage and save money.

My home is still underwater: If you saw your home’s value plummet during the recession, there is still a good chance your value has not out gained what you own on the home. fortunately, there is a program available to help you. The HARP 2.0 Refinance Program is designed to allow you to refinance at lower interest rates regardless of your home’s value. There are restrictions to this program, but even if you did not qualify before, your home may have gained enough value for things to change. Plus, we are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of changes to the program (HARP 3.0) that would help more Tri-County residents.

We are centrally located in the Tri-County area just off I-96 in Wixom, Michigan. For all your refinancing and purchase loan needs, please do not hesitate to give us a call and talk with us about your specific situation.